


moonflower | (it's aubade, dear)

by ethrealeis



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, a little ooc, i don't care, read it as platonic or not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:48:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28169505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ethrealeis/pseuds/ethrealeis
Summary: the sun had set, the world painted in dark reds and shamefully bright oranges, clouds floating over a hazy sunkissed sky like white paints from a brush, flicked across a canvas.the glow from the dying orb in the sky lit up the room in an ethereal light, shades crossing over the pairs' faces;"aubade.""what?""nothing."dream gave him a bug-eyed look. "sure. whatever."he'd look it up later.-au·bade | a morning love-song; a song of lovers parting in the morning
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), implied george/sapnap
Comments: 2
Kudos: 60





	moonflower | (it's aubade, dear)

**Author's Note:**

> College AU short where technoblade's an english student and dream's an art one. 
> 
> (techno's taller than dream in this.)
> 
> if the lesson stuff seems off, tell me so i can correct it!

* * *

"techno, you _fucking_ _asshole_ \- give me the mask back, _stupid_ -"

a golden haired man ran laps around the room, chasing the taller, pink haired elder, a long plait flowing down his back, who had said mask gripped gently in his hands, face as expressionless as always; but keeping his all too familiar glint in his eyes. 

"i don't know what you're talking about."

the blonde groaned and held his face in his hands, hiding crystallized green eyes. "yeah, right. sure you don't. look, techno, please, can i just have it back?" 

techno stretched his arm out, using his height advantage to the best of his ability; watching dream struggle to reach the now stained mask in the air, a small smirk crossing his face. 

"apologise." 

"what for?" the shorter teased, still attempting to grab the frail visage. 

"ruining my papers." 

dream scoffed. "c'mon, tech, it's not my fault you're a loser who doesn't use a computer." 

techno's eyes narrowed and answered him by silently pulling the mask further out of reach. 

"hah? so you put them in the shredder?" 

dream flicked dirty blonde hair out of his face, glaring at the taller. 

"in my defense, your handwriting is really hard to read. i thought it was another letter from my mom." 

techno growled. "and you didn't check? pissbaby." 

"asshole." 

the two stared daggers at one another for a good few minutes like that. 

eventually, however, techno's arm grew tired, and he ended up relaxing his grip and letting the artist's creation back to the safety of a desk, letting his friend snatch it back. 

"fuck, you've smudged it!" 

the taller shrugged and turned away to face the window of their shared apartment, pulling shutters open while undoing his long pink braid, letting his hair lie lank on his shoulders. 

"and it's bent!" 

"s'what you get for messing up my assignments," techno said lamely, pulling headphones on his head and switching the volume up, just quiet enough that he could still hear the complaints echoing from the other side of the room.

dream scowled and gave up on furiously rubbing at the ink stains off the formerly clean white mask. 

"at least the history for the entirety of english language isn't going to change," he shot back, slamming the creation on his paint-stained desk, rubbing his temple with calloused fingers littered with markings of ink and papercut scars.

techno turned up the volume. 

"-and paper máche takes ages to dry," he heard faintly, turning to see dream covering his face in his hands, collapsing on his desk chair; head slammed down on it. 

techno would have been lying if he didn't feel a little somber on account of his roommate. but he just reached for a brush and finished his hair instead, running slim fingers through knots, going back to facing a clear window, watching a fading sun sink down into the horizon beneath a city skyline. 

he sighed and turned to see his friend completely out of it, hair pooled around his face, eyes shut. he only then, in the gradual darkness of the evening, noticed the dark eyebags that accompanied the small freckles littering the familiar face that he was so used to. 

he needed to write an essay again by morning. 

he had a little spare time. 

* * *

"yeah, thing is, george, it was completely ruined! it needs to be perfect or i'll have failed the whole thing!" 

dream had woken up to a not-so pleasant recollection of the previous night. 

"he just snatched it and it hadn't even finished drying! god, george, i am _so_ done for." 

his brown haired friend rolled his eyes and sat down next to the blonde, occasionally giving him small noises of agreement to remind him that he was listening. 

"-and when i woke up, my supplies were all gone. everything i needed to redo the whole fucking thing." 

dream waved his arms with surprising vigor for a tired student, nearly hitting george in the face a few times.

"-and! my head still hurts because someone, naming no names," he said, voice laced with distain, "-didn't have the decency to pick me up and put me to bed! or even give me a pillow- ah, sorry, george- my desk is pure wood, do you know how it feels to wake up after passing out on hard oak?" 

"as a matter of fact, i do." 

dream stared at him. 

"story for another day," he said, trying to hide a sly grin. 

"wh- what did sap do?" 

george gave him a weak punch on the back. 

"hey, don't ask personal questions." he sighed at the smirk on his friend's tired face.

"anyway, backtrack a little. you wanted _technoblade_ to carry you, _wedding style_ , to your bed?" 

dream glared at him, face tinted in a pretty shade of rosewood. 

"that is _not_ what i said." 

"sure, dream, sure. seriously, i don't think i'd bother doing that for you, what makes you think techno would?" george finished with a grin. 

the blonde laughed. "you bitch." 

"stop complaining and figure out what to do for your mask." 

* * *

dream was not looking forward to art. 

timing had been short, and his supplies apparently drained; which was odd, since he could swear he had enough extra material for backup works; but he didn't think much of it. 

nonetheless, he did not finish in time. he stormed out of his dorm, dark-eyed, leaving his unfinished work hanging on an old line; grabbing his satchel and folder for his lesson. 

the atmosphere in the brightly-coloured art class was lively and vibrant; this was the one room out of the whole department, or even tr campus, where you couldn't avoid colour even if you tried.

walls had been painted in varying styles, from pop to stylised, abstract to just plain graffiti. the room felt warm and homely, reminding dream of why he took the class in the first place. 

_"art isn't that great, dream."_

_"techno, just because you have the artistic talent of a goddamn toothbrush-" dream muttered, shaking his head._

_"-and even toothbrushes can be used as paintbrushes in abstract."_

_"haah? no, i just think english is a lot more important than wavin' a stick around."_

_"you're a pain."_

_"thanks, i try." techno had responded dryly._

he ignored the plethora of finished projects lying ready on everyone's tables, the teacher singing praises for students work, and instead focused on the look george gave him as he sat down, defeated and exhausted. 

"no luck?" 

dream sighed. "you know how long it would take it to dry." 

"go up to sir, get it over with. worst case scenario-" 

the blonde drew a finger across his neck. 

"worst case scenario, george, is that i fucking die." 

the brunette giggled and gave him a thumbs up. 

dream walked across to the teacher's desk, thinking over his choice of words. 

"hey, uh, sir?" 

the teacher looked up at him, brows furrowed slightly. 

"ah, dream. i thought you'd come." 

dream tried to laugh it off, but the words only made him more uneasy. was he that untrustworthy? did he rely on him to forget his work? he'd never done it before.

"i have your project right here. your friend dropped it off for you earlier. he said you had left it at your dorm." the teacher smiled, eyeing his suprised face. 

"a-oh! alright. thanks, sir." 

"think nothing of it. great work, by the way. the paintwork is wonderful." 

shaking slightly, dream took the piece from his professor's hands, slowly walking towards his desk, where george was waiting, apparently just as suprised as dream. 

"george, did you-" 

the shorter shook his head. "no way. you didn't tell me till this morning." 

dream carefully turned it over, examining it for any signs of it being his old work. 

"it can't be- there's no marks or dents or- _anything_. it's perfect!" 

he looked around staring narrowly at his classmates. there was no way any of them could have known. 

"you didn't tell anyone? like, sapnap, or...?" 

george gazed at the mask in his friend's hands. "not enough time. and you've seen him with paint. it would _never_ look this good." 

the mask was a clean white, rimmed at the back with a pretty shade of paint; a light green one, which dream had thought was missing. 

it was smooth; it didn't even look like máche anymore; if it weren't for its light weight, it could almost be mistaken for porcelain. 

there were two neat eyeholes, rimmed with black. the main paintwork, however, was featured on the front. 

large, looped swirls which darkened and lightened by their positions, perfectly lined and clear. 

they formed various elegant patterns by the eyes and mouth of the mask, much more than dream had ever conceived in his original work, swirling and twisting, like a ballroom mask for a shakespearean play. 

"it's beautiful." 

george nodded. "can i hold it?" 

dream gave him a small hum in response and handed it over. george gently flipped it over to inspect it. 

"there's a little note folded here." 

there was. a yellow post-it, folded into a tiny square and pushed into a small nook in the back. 

george carefully fished it out, making sure not to scratch off any paint. 

_hey dream,_

_sorry about ruining your mask project thing. i forgot how much time you always spend on your weird art stuff._

_i made you a new one, sorry that i took your supplies._

_p.s. i'll use a computer from now on. if it really bugs you that much._

"no way." 

the pair stared at the words, mouths opened to the floor. 

"wow," said the brunette. 

"he has some explaining to do." 

* * *

techno glanced at the clock on his bedside; it read 18:30. dream would be back from his class any minute.

he heard him before he saw him; there was a loud sound of stomping down the corridor to their room and then all of a sudden dream was in the doorway, holding his (or techno's, really) mask in his hand, glaring at him.

"nice to see you too, dream." techno said.

dream scowled and walked further inside, face red with embarrassment.

"why'd you do it, huh?"

the pink-haired man stared, confused. "why did i do-"

"why'd you make this?" dream snarled, voice raising slightly.

"was it to embarrass me? you wanted to prove you were better than me all along by just fixing what you fucked up, huh? i could've wrote your stupid little essay too, y'know, i'm not that stu-"

techno stood up, stretching to his full height over dream. his eyes were a murky-red, glowering in the setting sun.

then he hugged the blonde. 

"wha- what?" 

he pulled back reluctantly. he had felt warm. happy.

content...?

"i did it because you're my friend, dream." the taller said flatly. 

dream stood in shock, running hands through his hair. "i- no, you- really?"

techno smiled quietly, arms open, almost shyly. "really." he frowned a little, brows creasing. 

"why's that such a big deal for you, anyway?" 

the blonde shuffled from foot to foot, looking away from the now-soft gaze of his friend. "i dunno, didn't seem like something you'd do." 

he heard laughing. "that's what friends are for, man." 

the sun had set, the world painted in dark reds and shamefully bright oranges, clouds floating over a hazy sunkissed sky like white paints from a brush, flicked across a canvas.   
the glow from the dying orb in the sky lit up the room in an ethereal light, shades crossing over the pairs' faces; 

"aubade."

"what?"

"nothing."

dream gave him a bug-eyed look. "sure. whatever."

he'd look it up later.

for now, all that mattered was the sunset.

* * *

dream held his phone in techno's face, his own a look of what was a cross between confusion and anger. 

"what the hell does this mean?"

the blonde's hair was messy; he had evidently just got out of bed; his face was even darker than the previous day, skin red and scratchy. his eyes were blurry and grey (probably from using his phone all night, techno thought), and his mouth had formed into an ugly grimace.

"didn't i tell you to knock before coming into my room?" 

"what's it say on the phone?"

"you tell ME, idiot."

rubbing his eyes and pulling on a pair of glasses, techno leant closer to the screen.

"'aubade'," he read out.

he stopped and looked at dream seriously. "wait, wait, wait. is this all about yesterday?" 

the shorter pouted and pointed back at the screen. "read the rest."

techno gave him a quick look before continuing. 

"'a song or poem used as greeting for the oncoming dawn'. what's so bad about that?"

he hurriedly averting his eyes from the screen to his friend's face; pulling the phone out of his hands and shutting it off. 

"he-hey! you didn't read the last-"

"i don't need to," the pinkette interrupted icily.

"too bad i stayed up all night thinking about it," dream said, mouth curving up into a grim smile. techno's eyes widened. 

"aubade; noun," he started, eyes darting from the screen to the taller's face. 

"argh, jeez, just skip the fuckin' pointless stuff and get to the facts." 

dream grinned and carried on, face gently lit by the quiet light of the phone in the morning embers. 

"A song or poem greeting or evoking the dawn." techno scoffed. 

"so what's so bad about that, dream?"

"or-" dream said, face twitching slightly.

"- a love song; a song of lovers parting in the morning."

there was a terrible silence; dark and empty; before the taller turned away, shaking his head. he pulled his glasses off and looked dream in the eyes. "so?"

the blonde blinked. "so why'd you say it?"

no answer. teachno picked up a pile of printed papers from his desk and turned away from his friend.

_friend._

"it was a slip-up." he said flatly. 

"i get that. why are you so scared?" 

the pinkette's hair whipped round to face dream again, eyes red and mad. "i am _not_ scared." 

"then what are you waiting for?"

dirty blonde hair covered the bright green eyes of the speaker, making the look on his face impossible to see.

soft dawn hit his face from the side, his lips curved into a soft smile. his, _their_ mask was in his other hand. techno didn't know how he didn't notice before.   
"what are you waiting for?" he repeated.

"come here, you buffoon."

"id-idiot." 

techno didn't realise his eyes were wet. 

pink hair met blonde in a crashing of colour, pale skin met tan, green met red. like the inevitable clashing of two very different galaxies in the night sky, meeting and embracing each other in a cosmic warmth.

and it was warm. dream was warm and comforting. 

he felt happy. and he knew dream did to.

the blonde was like a drug, a happy pill, moonflower, the finest absinthe.

he didn't even want to pull away. but he did, and he saw that dream's eyes also had tears in them, the crystal green blurred and glassy. 

"guess we're both just stupid idiots, then."

"yeah," techno said, grinning lamely. 

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> canonically eret is headmaster
> 
> no beta, enjoy and ignore mistakes. 
> 
> my wattpad is cataclysmicc too :]


End file.
